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The Initiative
2.0
The Place
2.1
2.2
3.0
A History
The Destination
The Brief
3.1
3.2
Gauging the Appetite
3.3
Community Engagement
3.4
4.0
Unlocking the Potential
Is it time?
Evaluation
4.1
4.2
5.0
Site Analysis
Design Objectives
Ideas to serve as a catalyst
5.1
How might it work - Reclaim The Streets
5.2
How might it work - Inhabit The Spaces
6.0
The Design Initiatives
7.0
Sketchbook
8.0
Local Engagement
Mawgan Porth: The Mawgan Porth Initiative
1.0

1.0
The Initiative
4
‘Beyond the Horizon’ is the working title for
proposals for Mawgan Porth. This piece of
the Cornish coast has for some time come to
represent the consequences of planning blight
when circumstances combine as is the case
in multi-ownership implications and a lack of
coordinated effort to a piece of townscape to
recover.
This is the first meaningful attempt to assemble
proposals that represent a change towards a better,
safer and effective centre.
The report is set out as a series of influences that
need to be combined and reviewed against any design
of propositions. It needs to be remembered that this is
a proposal to establish a way of encouraging change
against a background where the opinion is generally
suggested to leave things as they are.
The following sections review the intentions to
influence the process of change; they are draft
pieces of analysis to be developed in concert with the
client sponsors, the community of people who might
get involved, the local authority, statutory agencies
and local neighbours. The result established from
consultation experience is to start ‘the story’ of the
proposals and provide a guide to the programme and
stages of evolution of the idea. It’s about establishing
an attitude for committing to change.

2.0
The Place
6
Set within 3 miles of Cornwall Newquay Airport,
the coastal village of Mawgan Porth sits between
the well established towns of Padstow to the north
and Newquay to the south.
With its neighbouring villages Mawgan Porth forms
the area referred to as Newquay and St Columb, an
area that also includes significant historic sites, ancient
monuments and historic landscapes.
The majority of the village sits on the north side of the
River Menalhyl with homes and buildings set up on the
hill stretching north towards Trenance.
The village centre of shops, village hall, car park and
public house straddles the river and fronts the main
road (B3276), beach and sand dunes. The former
petrol station site and neighbouring buildings sit low
in the landscape, set back from the road. This ‘hotchpotch’ of buildings are a shadow of their formers
selves. Tired, wind swept and bland, they represent
the heart of the place, the destination. They also
represent an amazing opportunity to reinvigorate a
place that is truly unique with spectacular scenery and
potential.
This initiative aims to be a holistic approach to the
wider village centre and how changes could improve
the sense of place however it does involve detailed
studies and proposals for three of the main businesses
in the village.
‘...the combined site of the bead shop, the supermarket
and Betty’s surf shop is a highly prominent location
that forms the ‘village centre’ of Mawgan Porth...’
UAY
NEWQ
AY
ATE B
ATERG
W
AN
MAWG

2.1
A History
of interventions
The history of Mawgan Porth could reference
the late Saxon heritage, the buried ruins of a
settlement and Cornish names such as Dowr
Melynheyl and Glyvion. All very important in
preserving the past and understanding the place
today, however it is the more recent history that is
relevant to this initiative.
The Cornish revival of recent years has been the
coming together of circumstance and inevitablility. The
dramatic Cornish landscape and its tranquil setting for
tourists has seen Cornwall become the fashionable
and convenient place to holiday and live.
Its impact both negative and positive on the county
can be argued over however change is happening and
the area around Mawgan Porth has seen the benefits
of this gravitation to the Cornish coast.
Mawgan Porth has seen its neighbours, Watergate
Bay, Newquay and Padstow become destinations
beyond even their wildest estimations. That’s not to
say this initiative aims to emulate this, far from it, the
natural beauty of the place and its ‘remote’ feel is part
of its charm.
Much of Mawgan Porth was built in the 1950s and
60s, before then little existed. Now however there is a
place but what is now needed is a village centre to be
proud of, it is due an ‘upgrade’.
1969
19581932
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Mawgan Porth: The Mawgan Porth Initiative

2.2
The Destination
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the car park is a ‘back of house’ experience and from
the street the shops, their forecourt and the general
experience is a tired and wind swept one.
Residents and visitors alike need a better experience
when in Mawgan Porth. The village needs to be a
place to visit and a place worth remembering.
With amazing beaches, surf and scenery Mawgan
Porth can attract the bathers, surfers and walkers.
It is also home to the local people who live and
work in and around the village.
Setting the bar high in hotel standards, The Scarlet
opened in 2009 with stylish accommodation, excellent
food and a service to match. For anyone else visiting
the bay the offer is limited to what the shops provide
and the public house serves. To the rear of the shops
With the arrival of Fifteen in the spring of 2006,
Watergate Bay has established itself on the map as a
destination to rival other local areas. The expansive
beach, the surf and the landscape has always been a
draw but the improvements to the hotels, restaurants
and other amenities has transformed a tired coastal
resort into a much sought after location. Further afield
Padstow has become recognisable nationally and
internationally for its celebrity restaurateur. A business
that has revolutionised the offer to tourism, creates
employment and has bought opportunities to the town.
Like in so many places in Cornwall, it is the coast, the
sea and character of the place that bring people there.
Servicing them and the people who live in and around
there has changed with a more diverse offer.
To the south, Newquay and St Ives continue to attract
tourism and in doing so have created a sustainable
industry to compliment the year round businesses that
are continuing to expand and develop whether that be
farming or technology companies.

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Mawgan Porth: The Mawgan Porth Initiative

3.0
The Brief
12
The brief at this stage should be aspirational and
not directional. In other words it suggests the
beginning of a new vision for the place. What is
fundamental in the development of the brief is
the skeleton of delivering a proposition that is
sustainable and that each plan or study is made
possible. This involves matching the funding
climate with the proposals. There are many
reasons why Mawgan Porth has become the way it
is but there are two reasons that identify the place
as remarkable (just look at the map); the beach
and the surf.
The site is principally to service that community. In
making this possible it is fundamental that safety is
paramount. This doesn’t happen at Mawgan Porth and
the brief must consider a language and solution for
linking the forecourt or public realm to the beach and
to reduce the impact of the car.
The second reason for the place is to service the
community of surfers and users of the beach with
basic provisions from toilets to cafes. The development
of a proposal at this level suggests a market plan
with special initiatives. Here is a proposition for taking
things forward, whether it takes 2, 20 or 200 years,
something will happen. Therefore some initiatives in
the brief must be promoted ahead of others.

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Mawgan Porth: The Mawgan Porth Initiative

3.1
Unlocking the Potential
14
The principle proposition is to make the
connection between why the site is there, the
beach, the surf and the visitor. This is not
about making grand gestures or comprehensive
redevelopment, it is a matter of responding to the
need for a safe and sustainable, thriving environment.
Precedents exist to accomplish this through the notion
of taking as a priority people on foot, i.e. making new
arrangements for cars. The starting point therefore
needs to address the landscape of the place:
•
•
•
•
•
Removing the conflict between people and traffic,
putting cars ‘on the pavement’.
Preventing parking on the frontage or organise
into disciplined arrangements and limited in
duration.
Remove parking bays and introduce public areas
and landscape.
Consider methods to reduce vehicular access
to frontage and car parking perhaps through
relocation of access.
Move business access to side entry road.
This is the enabling phase to establish a significant
surface where a major graphic footprint can be used
as the destination signature for the place. This is
the memorable thing that visitors and users will talk
about, the priority of people and not cars. The single
most absorbing reference for this proposal is the
Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro which will be
referenced through precedents.
overcoming the obstacles

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Mawgan Porth: The Mawgan Porth Initiative

3.2
Gauging the Appetite
goals and ambitions
16
A natural, organic process will establish the potential
rather than the ‘inevitable’ being imposed. There is a
genuine collaboration and buy-in from more than just
those with a commercial interest.
There are three fundamental processes involved
in design philosophy which captures the way we
communicate:
Firstly, analysis and appraisal of the extrinsic qualities
of the place and the way it behaves in the area, its
relationship to its community, its history and any sense
of intrinsic archaeology that represents how it feels;
There needs to be an appropriate engagement
to establish the principle of the proposals and
establish if they are welcome and if there are other
needs that may be need addressing. The potential
scale of the ‘big idea’ will become apparent through
this process of discussion, reaction and collaboration.
Secondly, the lateral representation of the brief needs
to convey any preconceptions any stakeholder might
carry and it needs to be based on describing things
using a vocabulary that doesn’t carry any baggage
of convention about the way things are. The brief
needs to recognise the influence of affordability and
the commercial need to create a financial model that
explores transformational change and able to make
a difference. The briefing can happen in many ways;
from the bottom up through an examination of how
things work, sometimes through a visionary idea;
And lastly, the challenge of making creative notions
and our ability as designers to help make it happen
is referred to as ‘the right stuff’. Not just delivering
a design but more importantly adding the ‘feel good
factor’.

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1. IDEAS
4. MAKE
17
3. RESEarch
5. TEST
6. PRESent
“If I look back on the road I have travelled, I realise that it was more difficult to me
to discover the problems I had to resolve, than it was to solve them” - Charles Darwin
Mawgan Porth: The Mawgan Porth Initiative
2. DISCUSSION

3.3
Community Engagement
18
to include all stakeholders through focus groups,
workshops and presentations is the basis of an
inclusive consultation with the proactive Parish
Council.
Other factors that need to be considered in relation to
the brief are the sites effect on the Merrymoor public
house and its ambitions as well as understanding how
the car park will work and enhance the overall ambition
of these initiatives.
Further stakeholders that would need coordination are
the Local Authority, Tourism, Cornwall Development
Agency and Environmental Health. Planning and
community liaison will be fundamental in reviewing and
informing proposals.
Early consultation with the Highway Authority will be
needed for consideration of two principle concerns;
firstly the bottle-neck at the bridge and narrowing of
the road and secondly the crossing hazard from the
beach to the amenities.
The Environment Agency’s consideration about access
to the flood defence infrastructure (understood to be a
no build zone of 7m) and potential demands for flood
improvements and potential safety matters related to
any redevelopment.
A series of engagements are needed to establish
the acceptability of these initial ideas and the
principle of investment into the village centre.
Cementing the idea that anything done now needs
Introductory meetings and presentations of the
feasibility study have been presented to The Chief
Executive Officer and Director of Tourism in 2012 with
favourable reaction.

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Mawgan Porth: The Mawgan Porth Initiative

3.4
Is it Time?
can it wait?
20
Engagement of everyone involved is key and
clarity of the idea is paramount, and lack of
understanding between the process and reality
is why there may be resistance to proposal
and change. Contradictory messages amongst
stakeholders regarding priorities need exploration and
resolve. It is worth remembering that when people are
asked what they want a place to be like, they inevitably
describe a version of what they have already.
The next stage is making a major proposition
through the pre-application process change. Implicit
in this stage is the coordinated need to undertake
an engagement process of involvement of all stake
holders.
This paper is the agenda for that to happen.

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Mawgan Porth: The Mawgan Porth Initiative
the
market
place
Phase 4
“If I had asked 20th century Americans what they wanted
from the motor car, they would have asked for faster horses”

4.0
Evaluation
22
The site is currently blighted by the absence of any
planning brief for improvement of the place and
how it might contribute better to the nature of the
place and to the local and county economy.
FOCUS VIEW
THE SITE
STERS HOTEL
It must also be recognised that there may be a
reluctance on the part of some people who have no
appetite to endorse anything that involves disruption to
the status quo.
THE SCARLET
There is a growing concern amongst local businesses
who have set up a forum to review changing circumstances and a sense that the public wish would be to
see some improvement.
WILDERNESS DUNES
BEACH
RIVER
TRAFFIC

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Mawgan Porth: The Mawgan Porth Initiative

4.1
Site Analysis
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“it strikes me...”
the road is a barrier...
...there’s a large area that’s a ‘no man’s land’...
...the existing buildings are tired...
...there are ‘bottle necks’...
...the nodal points are isolated; and
there’s a lot of ‘back-of-house’ experience.”

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Mawgan Porth: The Mawgan Porth Initiative

4.2
Design Objectives...
evaluation
1
26
2
The process, key performance and aspirations:
1. Improve connectivity with the beach
Facilitate a masterplan or series of initiatives that are
tolerant to change for an evolving seaside destination.
2. Serve local needs (shopping, leisure)
Ensure what is proposed reflects the changing needs
of local people and businesses as well as cater for the
seasonal influx of visitors. It demonstrates a solution
that makes sense and is understandable: is recognised as a village centre as well a tourist destination;
There is an added value for everyone, and not just
financial. It offers a community led approach where the
community see the proposal as their own.
3. Improve tourist trade
Celebrate the place and enhance it. Creating a sense
of place, giving the village an identity, something to
remember. The site is centre of the village, the heart is
what everyone makes of it.
4. Enhance the village-scape and sense of place
The proposal must accommodate the needs of the
businesses driving the proposals
5. Enhance the landscape
It must be sustainable. The very environment that
make Mawgan Porth what it is, needs to be protected
and enhanced; what is proposed must work year round
for the community. It should also capture and reap the
rewards of the Cornish tourism industry.
4
5
3

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Mawgan Porth: The Mawgan Porth Initiative
“Design can be a genuine vehicle for change
however it must be inclusive of all those around,
even those happy with the status quo.”

5.0
Ideas to serve as a catalyst
28
This is that starting point for the recognition of
change. No one will expect what is likely to happen
and it needs an effort of imagining. There needs
to be a new identity created to incorporate the
principle of beach and surf and the shift in how the
place works but crucially how it FEELS.
“Branding is about where real business currency is
found, making opportunities, better arrangements,
strengthening idea and achieving greater reward”.
Ewan Searle, a branding company has responded to
our involvement to create the following initiative.
The main reference is the paving at Copacabana
beach in Rio. This has suggested how the market can
be persuaded to recognise the place.
An initial sketchbook of illustrations has been
considered for the ‘elevator’ description and the feel
for the place and the offer.
The following sketches will be developed to illustrate
the programme of stages of the first phase of change.
the concept

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Mawgan Porth: The Mawgan Porth Initiative

5.1
How might it work
Initial THOUGHTS
30
reclaim the
street
In order to provoke discussion, debate and
thoughts, Rock Townsend has undertaken a
number of ‘What If’s’, small studies into what
could happen to the different elements that make
up Mawgan Porth. A series of studies that may
form a masterplan but a masterplan that serves
to provoke discussion not a vision that should
necessarily be implemented.
Principles: to facilitate a community centre to the
village, where people go to shop, socialise and enjoy
rather than the drive through to Newquay, Padstow
or St Columb default mode for local facilities and the
place to go to.
The ‘abandoned’ culture that pervades the site
currently exists as people can easily feel ‘lost’ and
uncomfortable. It is the sense of being without ‘place’
that makes them more likely to travel through or move
on quickly without engaging with what is or could be
on offer in what is a great location.
This initiative therefore puts the sense of place,
the experience of Mawgan Porth at the heart of its
aim, making local people and visitors alike want to
be there and supporting this with a rich and varied
array of initiatives and interventions that support
local businesses, making life better, easier and more
convenient, an asset for the local community.
create a new surface applied to the road,
pavements, forecourts and bridge to create a
shared surface with pedestrians now the priority.

5.2
How might it work
Initial thoughts
32
INHABIT THE
s pa c e s
How people move through and around the site,
what they see and where they want to go is what
makes the experience of Mawgan Porth. Whether
it is parking in the car park to go to the beach,
walking from the holiday village to the public
house, whether you’re driving through, with the
exception of the natural landscape, what you are
confronted with is spaces and routes, buildings
and boundaries that are incoherent, chaotic and
detract from the beauty of the place.
Using the analysis of the earlier chapters we have
identified zones, spaces and elements of the place
that don’t work as well as they could. They are not
intuitive with what people want to do or how they want
to behave. What serves one purpose can limit the
enjoyment of other uses and possibilities and visa
versa. Analysing how the spaces could perform as
a whole led us to develop a set of components with
which to populate the space to establish a structure to
the initiatives:
Props: these are new installations temporary or mobile
that can be moved or altered easily that populate the
place.
Scenery: these are the fixed elements that are
permanent or semi-permanent for the short to medium
term;
Installations: these are the items that animate the
scenery/fixed elements and;
introduce new shops, cafes and spaces where
people want to come, gather, catch up, relax - the
‘centre’ of the village.

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Mawgan Porth: The Mawgan Porth Initiative

6.0
The Design Initiatives
34
A LASTING
i n t e rv e n t i o n
It has become clear that it is how people move
through the site and the ease in which people
move between places is key to the experience.
Establishing a hierarchy to the public realm, who uses
it and how, is not just a safety issue but is also about
being able to relax and enjoy the place.
The draw of Mawgan Porth is its beach, the surf and
natural scenery. What serves the beach and the
village is the shops, café, public house, and other
amenities. What divides them is the road that passes
through. This divide is exacerbated by the no-mans
land of tarmac which is neither road nor pavement,
forecourt nor terrace. What is needed is a cohesive
piece of design to establish a new approach to the
beach that maintains the road yet unites these three
elements.
An intervention that both psychologically and
physically narrows the gap, that can also become part
of the identity to create the sense of place that it is
currently lacking.
introduce a coherent street scene, a backdrop
for day-to-day life that is one that enhances the
experience, is positive, inspiring, lasting...

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existing site
The SURFACE
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3
Mawgan Porth - The Big Idea
services
car park
cafe
shops
new shared surface:
new shared surface:
new shared surface:
transform the perception of the place
create a reinvigorated identity
a sense of place
canopy
enabling scheme to
change the priority to
pedestrians
remove the conflict
between pedestrian &
the car
access to the beach
existing road
the pavilions
the decision: option 1 - silos
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5
new pavilion #02
develop silo typology
enhance existing buildings in response
to land parcels/ownership
create new landscape in between
NEW pavilion #03
additional dynamic
Mawgan Porth - The Big Idea
new pavilion #01

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the decision: option 2 - a coordinated joint development
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Mawgan Porth: The Mawgan Porth Initiative
6
address the issues of
the flood plain
option 2 - develop the building
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Mawgan Porth - The Big Idea
develop new building to
the rear of pavilions
hotel? apartments?

8.0
Local Engagement
40
over the coming weeks
and months we will be
putting together ideas
that are ours as well as
interpretations of what
people have suggested...
...what might be is just
beyond the horizon.
mymawganporth.com